St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 10 June 2025

Pupils are happy at this friendly and welcoming school. Positive relationships between staff and pupils create a safe space. In this environment, pupils feel secure and comfortable sharing their worries or concerns. The school's values of love, care and respect are embedded throughout the curriculum and underpin the positive relationships between all in the school. Pupils are well- mannered. They extend a warm welcome to visitors. Pupils enjoy learning and socialising with their peers. Playtimes and learning times are happy and fun. Those who find it more challenging to manage their feelings receive tailored support from skilled staff. As a result, their behaviour improves over time. The school has high aspirations for pupils' achievement. Typically, pupils achieve well. Children in the early years are well prepared for key stage 1, and pupils in Year 6 are ready for their secondary education. Pupils excel in their various roles and responsibilities. These include playleaders and school councillors. Older pupils are proud to be 'special friends' to children in the early years. Pupils make a tangible contribution to school life through these roles. They are involved in projects in the local community, such as litter picking and foodbank donations. This contributes strongly to pupils' personal development.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, assessment strategies are at an early stage of development. As a result, sometimes the school does not identify key gaps in pupils' learning or adapt future teaching to help pupils overcome these deficits in knowledge. The school should ensure that teachers are suitably equipped to check pupils' learning across the curriculum and ensure that pupils learn important knowledge securely.
• The school has not ensured that errors in pupils' writing are identified and addressed consistently well. As a result, some pupils continue to make the same mistakes over time. The school should ensure that systems are in place to spot and remedy the mistakes that pupils make when writing, so that pupils are supported to develop greater accuracy and expertise in their writing across the curriculum.
• The school has not ensured that some pupils have the depth of knowledge that they should about the importance of fundamental British values. This means that some pupils are not as fully prepared for life in modern Britain as they could be. The school should ensure that staff are fully equipped to support pupils to develop an age- appropriate understanding of fundamental British values.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)